Thunder in the Mountains: The Unsung History of Wild Turkeys

(Turkey petroglyph at Bandelier National Monument and a wild turkey photographed in similar posture at Bosque Del Apache National Wildlife Refuge. Photos by the author.)

The cliff faces of Bandelier National Monument are adorned with petroglyphs that offer a window into what Ancestral Pueblo people valued 500-700 years ago. One of these carvings is the unmistakable outline of a turkey, its prominence suggesting the deep importance of this species in Pueblo culture. In broader society today, the turkey’s cultural contributions are rarely acknowledged outside of being the centerpiece of holiday meals. Instead, the bird is often characterized as unremarkable. Rekindling an appreciation for wild turkeys not only allows us to find enchantment in a common, local species, but also to recollect instructive insights from our shared history.

While the wild turkey’s current abundance may dampen their novelty, it represents one of America’s greatest conservation success stories. Between the late 19th and early 20th centuries, wildlife in America faced an unparalleled onslaught at the hands of market hunters who profited from selling game meat and hides along transcontinental railroads. The bodies of familiar species like mallards, mule deer, and turkeys were trafficked by the millions to supply industrializing cities with raw materials and luxury cuisine. The wild turkey population was reduced to 30,000 individuals, a stark 90% decline. Where springtime gobbles once resonated like thunder in the mountains, the woods had fallen silent.

The wild turkey was rescued from extinction thanks to advocacy by hunter-conservationist groups like the Boone and Crockett Club who supported legislation to ban market hunting. State wildlife agencies then revived populations by restoring habitat and reintroducing turkeys across the country. The insights gleaned during this recovery, such as the necessity of managing wildlife for public benefit rather than private profit, continue to be enshrined as the basis of the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation.

Another illuminating chapter of turkey history took place in the American Southwest, where cultural relationships with the species challenged distinctions between wild and domestic. In Ancestral Pueblo society, domesticated turkeys contributed a variety of everyday items, from egg whites used to create paints to feathers woven into burial shrouds. A 2021 paper by archaeologist Cyler Conrad suggests that these turkeys were often allowed to roam freely, potentially forming bonds with specific caretakers. Turkeys were even occasionally buried beside people. Domestication was not at the exclusion of wild turkeys, who were fed maize alongside tame individuals. The flexibility of these management systems allowed Pueblo turkey rearing to persist amid impacts of colonialism.

Historically, the lack of widespread domestication in North America was cited by colonial ob-servers to disparage Indigenous nations and deny their land rights. Pueblo turkey domestication shows that animals were managed in more subtle, semi-wild forms; a complexity that subverted colonial assumptions about agriculture requiring dominion over the land. Today, regenerative farmers are looking to Indigenous food systems for lessons in how to design agricultural practices that are more resilient and better integrated within local ecology. Our shared history with turkeys offers an outlook of hope: that we might overcome threats to wildlife abundance and practice reciprocity with the wild earth on which we still depend.

Jay Cooney is a Naturalist at Wild Birds Unlimited of Santa Fe